Farm Enterprises

Grains

There's been a few glorious days that have made the crops jump for joy and soak up the sun.  Canola is in full bloom and there are a few heads emerging in the cereal crops.  The grains groups have been busy with tidying up the campus and farm, utilising this opportunity to get students signed off on Treat Weeds and Apply Chemicals competencies.

Cattle

After winter, the areas around the cattle troughs tend to be boggy and wet, so students have been carting gravel and compacting it around the troughs to keep them accessible.

Calf-marking has also been completed, with a number of students finishing their Identify and Draft, Identify and Mark and Collect and Record Production Data competencies.  The calves were earmarked, ear tagged (individual numbers and NLIS), vaccinated and recorded.  Now comes the 'mothering up' stage - where we observe the mob, partner up the calves with their mums and record the corresponding ear tags.  This is an important step in our record-keeping.  

Come along and check out the cows at Open Day and have a go at guessing the weight of our bull, Quantum.  Here's a little tip - he's a LOT heavier than last year (for those who had a crack at the prize in 2023)!

Sheep

Crutching, shearing, checking, moving, training and more lambing.  Busy as usual in the sheep area!  Year 11s continued their fantastic efforts with crutching, with Year 12s getting through a few as well.  There's been a fair bit of training happening in preparation for Farm Skills, with Mr Laird conducting sheep judging, wool judging and fencing training after school for the past few weeks.  The last of the Stud ewes have lambed and there's some thumper Poll Dorset babies pronking around the paddock.

Open Day will be a blast down at the shearing shed, with the shearing competition, Triple C Ram Sale, and students showing off their skills in shearing, wool handling and wool spinning.  Drop in and say g'day to Mr Laird, Miss Martini and the crew on Friday!

Piggery

Cert III Pork students are finishing off their practical components of the course with the end of the year fast approaching.  Year 11 and 12 Certificate II students are also busy completing competencies in the piggery, making it tick along like clockwork.  

Open Day will allow visitors the chance to have a look at what students have been up to throughout the year and see some of our pigs on display.  Frank the boar will be happy for you to have a guess of his weight for the competition too! 

General

The last two weeks with Miss Iles, the General groups have been busy honing their fencing skills with plenty of new gates and fencing being erected around the piggery. The students have mastered tie-ons, tie-offs and figure 8 knots.  

Mr West and his groups have been busy cleaning up ready for Open Day, moving grain for the piggery, carrying out plenty of repairs and maintenance in the piggery and on farm machinery.